"We did quite a bit of historical research," said Thorsen, who still looks like he is in his 30's, more than a decade on. "There are so many myths connected to the Library of Alexandria and some varying opinions about how things happened. We had to think about a way to deal with the history and how to incorporate that into the design."

To execute their vision for Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Snøhetta team enlisted the Egyptian engineering consultancy firm Hamza Associates to turn their five conceptual sketches into reality. Dr. Mamdouh Hamza, Chairman of the planning, architecture and engineering firm, was impressed by what he called Snøhetta's "genius design". However, he told the Earthtimes that securing the contract to build Bibliotheca Alexandrina was a challenge. "There was initial resistance to select Hamza Associates, said Hamza, noting that the Unesco-commissioned Egyptian project manager was not familiar with their work and recommended six other consultants instead. Hamza continued that his firm was Snøhetta's first choice and that the Norwegian architects did not like the project manager's recommendations.

Carrying out the architects' plans was relatively simple compared to other projects, Hamza noted. "This is one of the very few buildings in my 32 years of experience in this field, which had minimal design and specification changes," he said.

According to Thorsen, the library's design had to effectively deal with the present and future, in addition to its ancient historical roots. Thorsen and the Snøhetta team conveyed this synthesis of past, present and future in a building that combines a circular wall made of Aswan granite adorned with an alphabetic inscriptions of almost every language, an impressive aluminum and glass tilted roof and a steel and glass footbridge that extends towards the Mediterranean. The glass, granite and steel that comprise of the primary materials of the library's exterior convey a convincing harmony between the ancient and the modern.

Thorsen said that the representations of the past were done on an associative level. Every facet of the library complex carries a symbolic representation of the library's history and it's future. "The building itself is tilted around an axis, where one part of the building is pushed down into the ground and one is lifted out of the ground," Thorsen explained. "By doing that you reveal the historical layers that are buried in the ground." Hamza executed some of the historical representations in a concrete manner. Using Aswan granite for the circular outer wall of the Library, Hamza explained that his team replicated the ancient Egyptian practice of splitting the granite slabs rather than cutting them.

The physical creation of Thorsen and Snøhetta's conceptual historical layers rising from below the ground was a practical necessity and a challenge, according to Hamza. He explained that the Library's seafront location, only 30 meters from the aggressive Mediterranean sealine, required a construction that would keep the library dry. Hamza Associates dug a 160-meter diameter whole in the ground on the site location and constructed the building on external supports. The Library building begins 18 meters below street level, 12 of which are below sea level.

The construction of the Library's striking tilted roof was also a challenge. Thorsen's intention for the aluminum and glass roof was for the library to open towards the sky and to allow sunlight to be filtered into the Library indirectly, since indirect sunlight is more reader-friendly than direct sunrays "It is a very site specific building when it comes to how it deals with its direction toward the sea and how it works with the light and space," Thorsen explained.

The roof remains one of Hamza's structural challenges to this day. "The roof is made from aluminum sheets, the same ones used in airplane wings, since it has to allow movement from expansion and contraction from the sun's heat," said Hamza. The firm is still working out how to successfully protect the roof from the elements of heat and water.

Both Thorsen and Hamza had to face the challenges of working within the site, which already housed a convention center on premises. A hospital is located on the eastern side of the site, a convention center to west, the Corniche to north and Alexandria University's main campus to the south. Thorsen and Snøhetta cleverly incorporated the existing convention center into an integral part of the Bibliotheca complex. "We created an entrance plaza and a public square between the convention center entrance and the main library entrance," Thorsen explained. "You enter into the conference center, on one hand-a center of debate and discussions; and you enter into the library on the other side-a center of knowledge. The two work together quite well."

Having created such a striking and socially relevant work of architecture and engineering, Thorsen and Hamza have realized that the Bibliotheca Alexandrina may have a "Bilbao effect" on Alexandria. Like Frank Gehry's art museum in Northern Spain, the resurrection of Egypt's ancient Library as a stunning new edifice is likely to draw a new wave of tourism into Alexander the Great's fabled city. Hamza said he has seen the effects already.

"The Bilbao effect is already happening," he said excitedly. He explained that now people will be drawn to the Library first and foremost and the rest of the city, and all its ancient ruins, will become side attractions. "This is a good thing because Alexandria will be singled out as a center of knowledge," he added.

Thorsen takes a different view on social structures and the benefit of a "Bilbao effect." He explained: "After a period of time, the building will lose its news interest. What is important is important is the functionality of the institution, not the quality of the building. It is how it [the Library] defines itself in the next 10 to 15 years that will have an overall effect on Alexandria." Thorsen added that having Dr. Ismail Serageldin--formerly of the World Bank--as the Bibliotheca Alexandrina as the Librarian of the institution provides a solid base for the future of the Library.

Responding to existential questions about the future of libraries, Thorsen once again emphasized the fact that a library is an institution, not just a building. Though Thorsen and his team began work on the Library before the Internet boom, he passionately defended the role of Libraries in a high-tech world. "I think libraries are just as necessary today as they were 10-15 years ago," said Thorsen. "But their function has changed. The library is not a building, it's an institution--a working environment." Thorsen believes that face-to-face knowledge exchange cannot be replaced by high-speed Internet information gathering. "Yes, technology has developed extremely fast," Thorsen contended. "But what hasn't developed fast is our capability of adopting that knowledge."